Container winding apparatus



Sept 24, 1963 c. P. KRUPP ETAL CONTAINER WINDING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 28, 1961 Sept. 24, 1963 c. P. KRUPP ETAL 3,104,839

CONTAINER WINDING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 28. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 22 INVENToRS CARRoLL P. KRUPP COUR TNEY H. WENGEH ATTY."

United States Patent O 3,104,839 CGNTAINER WlNDiNG APPARATUS Carroll P. Krupp, Akron, and Courtney H. Wenger,

Cuyahoga Falls, Ghia, assignors to The B. F. GoodlgzichkCornpany, New Yorir, NX., a corporation of New Filed Nov. 28, 1961, Ser. No. 155,359 4 Claims. (Cl. 242-2) This invention pertains to the manufacture of reinforced hollow articles, and, more particularly, to the manufacture of pressure vessels reinforced lwith wound lilamentary material.

The apparatus of this invention has particular appl-ication in the reinforcement winding of pressure vessels which lare generally of cylindrical shape with hemispherical ends.

In the manufacture o-f pressure vessels, particularly those for aircraft and missile applications, it is not only desirable but mandatory that the vessel have a very high strength-to-weight ratio. Through the use of the present invention pressure vessels may be so rein-forced with continuous iilarnentary material that the ultimate tensile strength of the lamentary material is utilized without the necessity for excessive layers of reinforcement maten'al which would result in prohibitive finished weights, requiring even more undesirable additions tothe airframe structure containing the vessel. The weight advantage thus :gained may then be used for larger paylo-ads or increased fuel loadings.

Although the advantages obtainable through the use of filament reinforced pressure vessels have long been recognized, they have not been fully realized due to the problems which arose in winding doubly curved surfaces such as the hemispherical ends of elongated cylindrical vessels. These surfaces :are Lmost advantageously reinforced by winding the reinforcement in a ser-ies of geodetic loops from a location at, or as near as possible to, one end or pole portion of the article to Ia corresponding location at or correspondingly near the opposite end of a longitudinal axis through the article. of such vessels are easily reinforced by circumferential traverse winding. It was often me case in winding the ends of the forms that as the reinforcement material, in the form of a weftless narrow web of continuous lilarnents, passed about the pole portions of the article it beca-me twisted, wrinkled, or improperly crossed over upon previously laid loops in such 4a way that dangerous stress points were created. Such points were necessarily Weak, reducing the ultimate strength of the pressure vessel.

It is an object of this invention therefore, to provide an apparatus for the application of filament-ary reinforcement material to an article hav-ing hemispherical end portions in such ya manner that the full ultimate strength of the material is utilized.

it is ranother object of this invention to provide an apparatus for winding a series of contiguous geodet-ic loops of lamentary reinforcement material about the hemispherical end portions of -a generally cylindrical, 'elongated pressure vessel.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus as described in the preceding paragraph wherein means are provided to evenly index each geodetic loop, with respect to the preceding loop whereby said lilarnentary material is not twisted, wrinkled or unnecessarily overlapping itself.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an apparatus as described in the preceding paragraph, wherein said apparatus includes sensing devices to actu-ate said indexing 'means 4as the reinforcement material passes about the poles of the end portions of the pressure vessel.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will The cylin-drioal portions- -,lhdd Patented Sept. 24, i963 ICC be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and from the drawings forming a part of thi-s application, in which:

FIG. l is a side elevational View of the apparatus ywith a portion of the winding form cut away to illustrate more clemly its mounting means;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational View of the apparatus as shown in FIG. l;

PIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the pneumatic indexing circuit for the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary crossasectional view, taken along line 4-4 of FiG. l, showing a portion of the worm drive indexing mechanism; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wind-ing form with a portion of the winding thereon completed.

In winding rubber .lined pressure vessels with the present apparatus A it is necessary `to utilize a friable winding form 1Q, over which the lining of the pressure vessel may be placed. The winding form 1li thus serves as a fir-rn base for the application of reinforcement material to a thin resilient lining 11 which has been shown in the drawings as formed of rubber. After the completion of the winding operation, the form lo, which is expendable, may be broken into `small pieces and removed 4from the vessel. It will be readily understood that in the winding of metal lined vessels lit may not be necessary to utilize la building Iform as described above if the metal lining 1s strong enough to sustain the winding stresses. Furthermore, if dimensional stability of the form is not crucial, an inflatable form may be used. A

To form the lengthwise loops about the form 10, filamentary material, which is preferably Aa werftless tape 12 composed of a series of laterally abutting strands 13 under controlled tension, is -adjustably trained from stationary creels `or other supply mechanisms, not shown, to the form 10 by means of adjustably positioned guide rolls as at 14. While the train of the weftless tape 12 in the region adjacent the form 10 Iis maintained in a tix-ed winding plane during machine openation, the form is revolved in the winding plane and periodically rotatably indexed about its longitudinal axis B-B so 'that the tape is wrapped in successive contiguous convolutions lengthwise of the form 10. Upon completion of Ithe necessary number of such lengthwise convolutions or loops', the winding form 10 may be removed from the apparatus and then rotated only about its longitudinal axis B-B to apply :circumferential windings. t0 the cylindrical portion of the winding form 10 by means of a conventional lathe Wrapping traverse mechanism which forms no part of the present invention, and for which reason is not shown or more fully described.

The apparatus A is mounted upon a Ibas-e plate 15 which supports a vertical cylindrical member 16. Mounted near the ltop of member 16 are a pair of parallel, circumferentially extending flanges 17 which denne a circumferential track 18. Rotatasbly engaged with track 18 are a plurality of rollers 19 which rnovably support a rotatable turntable 2l). Turntable 20 hasan axially extending, circumferential, flange Z1 to which rollers 1-9 are rotatably mounted. Circumfferentially formed about turntable Ztlis a large spur gear 2.2. Also mounted on base plate 15 is a motor 23 connected to a speed reducer 24. A gear `25 is mounted on the output shaft 26 of reducer 24 and is in driving engagement with spur gear 22 to rotate turntable 2li about a vertical axis C-C in response to operation :of lthe motor 2.3.

On the top of turntable 2.0i, passing through the axis C-C land with one end extending radially beyond the edge of the table, is a plate member 27. Near each end of plate 27 is .a journal bracket 28 between which is journalled a traverse adjusting screw 29 with a handwheel mounted thereon.

39 mounted on one end thereof. Also mounted on turntable 2i) land parallel to plate 27 are a ,pair of slide guides 31. Slideably engaged with each guide 31 is a slide member 32. Vertioally mounted on each `slide member 32 is a vertical trunnion support 33 having a vertically extending portion 33a and a horizontally extending portion 33b. Each support 33 is reinforced by vertical inembers 34 and cross braces 35. Mounted on and between portions 33h of supports 33 is .a horizontal plate 36 from Which depends a bracket 37. Mounted on bracket 37 is a screw follower 38 engaged -with traverse screw 29. Thus, as handwheel is turned, trunnion supports 33 are moved radially, with respect to turntable 20, toward or away `from axis C-C.

Mounted between Iportions 33a of trunnion supports 33 is a shaft 39 supporting a trunnion bracket 40. On bracket 40 a bearing sleeve 41 is mounted. Pivotally mounted between support portions 33a by means of pivot brackets 42 and 43 is a gear housing 44 containing a pinion gear, not shown, mounted on a rotatable vshaft 4S.

Pivotally depending from the underside of bearing sleeve 41 by means of pivot brackets 46 and 47 is a gear rack 48 which passes through housing 44 and is engaged Awith the aforementioned pinion gear. Thus,` as a handwheel 49 which is mounted on shaft is turned, the elevation of bearing sleeve 41 may be `changed as needed. The -sleeve 41 is so mounted that its longitudinal axis at all times intersects the axis of rotation C--C of turntable 20.

Rotatably mounted in bearing sleeve 41 is a shaft 50 having an enlarged end portion 51. A thrust bearing 51a is positioned'over shaft 50 between the 4sleeve 41 and shaft portion 51 to relieve the friction therebetween when shaft is rotated. The building form 10 is provided with a longitudinal tube 52 having an inside diameter approximately equal to, but not smaller than, the outside diameter of the shaft portion 51. Thus, the building form 10 maybe mounted on the apparatus A by placing the tube 52 over shaft portion 51, and be keyed for rotation therewith by a key, as at 53.

As seen in FIG. 4, within a gear housing 54 mounted on the outer end of bearing sleeve 41, a worm gear 55 is mounted on the .end of shaft 50. .T-ournalled in lthe sides of the housing 54 and projecting from either side thereof is a shaft 56 on which is mounted a worm 57 engaged with the worm gear 55. Mounted on one side of housing 54 about an end portion of shaft 56 and engageable therewith is a pneumatically operated brake 58, well known in the art, .and comprising a brake drum mounted on sh-aft 56 ywhich may be frictionally engaged with an expandable .brake tube' mounted about the drum within the brake housing, none of 'the details of which are shown. Such a brake is manufactured by the F-awick Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio, their catalog number being MIJ-140A. At the other end of shaft 56 is mounted a spur gear 59. Mounted on one side of trunnion support portion 33a, adjacent spur gear 59 and coaxial with shaft 39, is a ratcheting indexing clutch 60, also well known in the art, and comprising a pawl, not shown, mounted on a crank bracket for driving engagement, as bracket 65 is moved in but one direction, with a circular ratchet, not shown, Vmounted about a spur gear 61 which is engaged with spur gear 59. Such a clutch is also manutactured by the Fawick Corporation, their catalog number being HPI 800/ 400. Pivotally mounted on the same side of support portion 33a is a double acting air cylinder 62 having a piston 63, the stroke of which may be adjusted. A piston rod 64 mounted on piston 63- is pivotally connected to crank bracket 65' fwhich activates clutch 60 4when it is advanced by piston rod 64 to rotate spur gear 61 and thus rotate shaft Sti and the 'building form 10 The apparatus will be 'more completely understood from the following detailed description of its operation.

Machine Operation.

Taking a given Iwin-ding form 1d on which the rubber lining i1 has been labricaued, the operator mounts the form on the enlarged pontion 51 ott shat 50 and keys it thereto Iwith a key 53. Handwheel 49 is turned to elevate the form 10 to bring into the same horizontal plane the point of intersection of the iform 10 with the top of tube 52 at the end nearest shat 51 and the point off intersection ci the form with the bottom of tube 52 at the opposite end of the form, as shown in FIG. 1. When this is accomplished, the operator adjusts handwlheel 30 to center the midpoint orf longitudinal axis =B-B olf fthe :form 10 onthe axis of rotation C-C of the turntable 20. By a predetermined amount, depending upon the 'width of the tape 12, the operator adjusts the stroke of piston 63 of double-acting air cylinder 62 by means of an adjusting Ascrew 66 which moves a displacement As the turntable 20 is turned clockwise a pair of valvey actuating cam followers 68 and 69 mounted on flange 21 sequentially Contact cams 70 and 71 mounted on base plate 15. Cams 70 and 71 are spaced -180 degrees apart, and cam followers 68 and 69 are spaced from one another suic-iently to prevent their being in contact Vwith either oi the cams 7 0 and 71 simultaneously. 'Dhe cams and cam followers are positioned on the apparatus A in such a manner however, that the lead cam follower 68 contacts each of the cams 76 and 71 just as the winding tape 12 crosses a pole of the ends of the .form at each half revolution of turntable 26, and the trailing cam :follower 69 contacts each :of the earns 70 and 71 preferably within the period of thirty degrees of rotation olf turntable 20 following their respective contact by follower 68. With reienence to FIG. 3 it Iwill be seen that cam spring return valve 81. Thus, piston 80 is alsoV held.A in its full line position,'compressing a piston return spring Y 82.v Valve 81 being in its :open position, air crorn line 74 is admitted through line 83 to one side of piston 63 in air cylinder 62. In addition (to charging pilot cylinder 78, air [from line 75 is fed to the air brake 58 to prevent rotation of shaft 56, thereby preventing the lform i In a similar manner, air ttrom line 1G from rotating. 76 charges pilot cylinder S4 holding pilot piston 85 in its full line position. Piston 85 is mounted at one end of a piston rod S6, yon the other end of which is mounted Va.

piston 87 of a two-way', spring return valve 88 which compresses a piston return spring S9. AValve 88 being in its open position, air from line 74 is allowed to pass through valve 88 and line 90 to change the other side of plsrton 63 of cylinder 62.

As turntable 20 continues its rotation, cam follower Y 63 engages earn 7G, forcing. the piston rod91 to Vwhich it is mounted and piston 92 of valve 72 to their dotted line positions, as seen in IFIG. 3. Air line 75 islthius exhausted through valve 72 to exhaust line 93, thereby exhausting air brake 58 to yfree shaft 56 and form 10 Y Piston 77 .is mounted at one end of for rotation, and allowing spring l82 to move pistons S0 and 77 to their dotted line positions. Air lines 74 and 83 are thus disconnected and the air on the right side of piston 63 o cylinder 62 as viewed in FIG. 3 is exhausted through line l53 and valve 8l to exhaust line 94. Due to the sudden pressure differential on the Itwo sides of piston 63 it is moved very rapidly to its dotted line position to partially rotate spur 'gear 61, its motion being transmitted through piston rod 6ft, crank arm 65 and indexing clutch 6%. As previously described, rotation of gear 6l is transmitted Ito shaft Sd to partially rotate form il? sufliciently to just abut adjacent loops of the reinforcement material l2 and prevent them tfrom lapping over -upon themselves.

To reset cylinder `62, cam 68 `of valve 72 is extended by force of a return spring 95 as it leaves cam 70,

eturning piston 92 to its full line position. This allows air from line 74 to again actufate air brake 5S to look shaft 56, preventing its Further rotation by action of piston 63, and to charge pilot valve 78, thereby returning piston S45 to its full line position. Air .from line 74 then liows to line S3, once more building up pressure on one side of piston 63. Alter a slight delay for this pressure buildup, determined by the spacing of cam followers 63 and 69, cam ffollower 69 contacts cam 76 torcing piston rod 96 and piston 97 of valve 73 to their dotted line positions against the force of piston return spring 9S. Pilot valve S4 is thus exhausted through line 72 and valve 73 to `exhaust line 99. Spring 89 thus is able to force pistons 85 and 87 to their dotted line positions allo-wing the portion of cylinder 62 on the left side of piston 63 to be exhausted through line 90 and valve 88 to exhaust line lllil. With pressure lfrom line `S3: on one side of piston 63 the piston is retracted to its position as shown in dull line, rat/:beting the indexing clutch 60, and causing no rotation of shait S6. At the completion ed this action, cam [follower 69 leaves cam 7d, allowing spring 98 to return piston 97 to its Fiull line position and thereby allow air from line 7d to again ow in line 76 to open valve S8. Thus, air from line 74 liows through valve 88 and line 9d to cylinder 62 where it again pressurizes the lett side of piston 63. At this point the circuit is completely reset .for subsequent engagement of cam followers 68 and 69 with the other cam 7l, at which time the above cycle is repeated to again rotatably index the form lo about axis B-B. It will now be uuderstood that by adjusting the position of piston 67 in cylinder 62 by means of adjusting screw 66, and consequently adjusting the volume or pressurized air available for displacement of piston 63, that the amount of indexing rotation of building form lll may be closely regulated. Additional regulation may be acomplished by varying the sizes of gears 59 and 6l.

Thus, as rotation of turntable 2i," continues, the building :form lil, with its rubber lining l1, is rapidly encased in a ser-ies of continuous contiguous loops of reinforcement material l2, as seen in FlG. 5, until it is completely enclosed. Depending upon the desired ultimate strength of the pressure vessel being constructed, additional layers of reinforcement may be applied by merely continuing the rotation of turntable 2G after iirst appropriately cementing the outer surface of the reinforcement already applied. Upon completion of the application of the reinforcement material the form lll is removed from slaarft 5l, tube SZ is removed from the dorm, land term 16 itself is broken into suthciently small pieces for removal from the vessel.

Although the invention has been described with referrence to a preferred embodiment thereott, it will be readily apparent ro those skilled in the art to which it pertains that modifications may be made in the illustrated and described mechanism without `departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

l. Apparatus for winding continuous fllarncntary material into winding components `ont a filament reinforced pressure vessel; comprising a circular turntable mounted on said apparatus rior rotation about a vertical central axis; vertical support members movably mounted on said turntable iior radial movement relative thereto; a hori- Zontal support rod mounted on and between said support members; -a bearing sleeve pivlortally mounted on said support rod at right angles thereto; a support shaft rotatably journalled by said bearing sleeve; a winding form removably mounted on said support shaft; means to rotate said. turntable about said central axis; means rto move said vertical support members toward and away from said central axis; means to move said bearing sleeve about its pivot; driving means operable to rotate said support shatt and the winding rform mounted thereon; braking means normally actuated to prevent rotation of said support shaft; means responsive to rotation of said turntable to deactuate said braking means and to operate said driving means to rotate said support sharft, and alter a predetermined time to actuate said braking means to prevent further rotation of said support shaft by said driving means; and means to train said lilarnentary material in a horizontal plane to said winding cEorm.

2. Apparatus for winding continuous r'ilamentary material into winding components of a iilament reinforced pressure vessel, comprising a turntable mounted on said apparatus yfor rotation in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis thereof; a pair of parallel vertical supports mounted on said turntable ior radial movement relative rthereto; a support shait mzovably mounted between the upper ends of said supports for adjustable orientation with respect to said vertical axis; a winding form removably mounted on said sharft ior movement therewith; means to rotate said turntable about said vertical axis; means to move said vertical supports toward and away from said vertical taxis in a radial path over said turntable; means to adjust the oiientation of said shaiit and said form carried thereby with respect to said vert-ical axis; means to: train said ilamentary material in a horizontal plane to said winding iorm; resettable indexing means operable to rotate said shaft and winding fiorrn mounted thereon a preselected amount; braking means normally actuated to prevent rotation of said shaft; a pair of cams mounted on said apparatus adjacent to and on opposite sides `of said turntable; -l'luid pressure means operable to aotuate said indexing means; a lirst sensing means mounted on said turntable and engageable with said cams as said turntable is rotated, said sensing means operable upon each such cam engagement to -deactuate said brake and to actuate said 4fluid pressure means in a manner causing said preselected rotation of said shaft and operable after disengagement of said cam to actuate said braking means Ito prevent further rotation thereof by said iluid pressure means; and a second sensing means moun-ted on said turntable rior engagement with said cams ifollowing :disengagement thereof by said -rst sensing means to actuate said fluid pressure means to reset said indexing means.

3. Apparatus for winding continuous ilamentary material into winding components of a filament reinforced pressure vessel, comprising a turntable mounted on said apparatus for rotation in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis thereof; a pair of parallel vertical supports n said form carried thereby with respect to said vertical axis; means to train said ilamentary material in a horizontal plane to said winding form; resettable indexing means operable to rotate said shaft and winding form mounted thereon a preselected amount; braking means normally actuated to prevent rotation of said shaft; a pair of cams mounted on said apparatus adjacent to and on opposite sides of said turntable; fluid pressure means having two portions normally pressurized to operate said indexing means; a irst sensing means mounted on said turntable and engageable with said cams as said turntable is rotated, said sensing means operable upon each such cam engagement to deactuate said brake and to actuate a rst portion of said uid pressure means reducing the pressure thereof in a manner causing said preselected rotation of said shaft, and operable after dis- 15 d turntable for engagement with said cams following disengagement thereof by said irst sensing means to actuate a second portion of said uid pressure means to reset said indexing means, and after disengagement of each of such cams to repressurize said fluid pressure means.

4. Apparatus as described in claim 3, wherein said sensing means are positioned on said turntable less than thirty degrees apart.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,763,052 Elmer Sept. 18, 1956 2,853,885 Seltzer Sept. 30, 19,58 2,975,987 Strickland et al Mar. 2l, 1961 Y FOREIGN PATENTS 267,350 Switzerland June l, 1950 

1. APPARATUS FOR WINDING CONTINUOUS FILAMENTARY MATERIAL INTO WINDING COMPONENTS OF A FILAMENT REINFORCED PRESSURE VESSEL; COMPRISING A CIRCULAR TURNTABLE MOUNTED ON SAID APPARATUS FOR ROTATION ABOUT A VERTICAL CENTRAL AXIS; VERTICAL SUPPORT MEMBERS MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID TURNTABLE FOR RADIAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE THERETO; A HORIZONTAL SUPPORT ROD MOUNTED ON AND BETWEEN SAID SUPPORT MEMBERS; A BEARING SLEEVE PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT ROD AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO; A SUPPORT SHAFT ROTATABLY JOURNALLED BY SAID BEARING SLEEVE; A WINDING FORM REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT SHAFT; MEANS TO ROTATE SAID TURNTABLE ABOUT SAID CENTRAL AXIS; MEANS TO MOVE SAID VERTICAL SUPPORT MEMBERS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID CENTRAL AXIS; MEANS TO MOVE SAID BEARING SLEEVE ABOUT ITS PIVOT; DRIVING MEANS OPERABLE TO ROTATE SAID SUPPORT SHAFT AND THE WINDING FORM MOUNTED THEREON; BRAKING MEANS NORMALLY ACTUATED TO PREVENT ROTATION OF SAID SUPPORT SHAFT; MEANS RESPONSIVE TO ROTATION OF SAID TURNTABLE TO DEACTUATE SAID BRAKING MEANS AND TO OPERATE SAID DRIVING MEANS TO ROTATE SAID SUPPORT SHAFT, AND AFTER A PREDETERMINED TIME TO ACTUATE SAID BRAKING MEANS TO PREVENT FURTHER ROTATION OF SAID SUPPORT SHAFT BY SAID DRIVING MEANS; AND MEANS TO TRAIN SAID FILAMENTARY MATERIAL IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE TO SAID WINDING FORM. 